By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOS ANGELES - The way Todd Van Poppel was pitching, Ryan Freel's legs were about all the offense the Reds needed.

Van Poppel threw six shutout innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 Saturday night before a crowd of 48,787 at Dodger Stadium.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

Freel's speed accounted for half of the offense. He tripled and scored on groundout. He got another run home with an infield hit, on which his speed led to a run-scoring error.

"That's him," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "I categorize him as throwback."

Ken Griffey Jr. wrapped it all up with his eighth home run of the year -- a two-run shot the opposite way to left in the eighth that provided valuable insurance runs.

Those won't be the plays ESPN runs in the highlights. You'll see Freel running headlong into the stands trying to catch a foul ball in the seventh. He ended up three or four rows into the seats. A fan was injured by his impact. She was taken off in stretcher. Freel was obviously shaken by the incident. He went down between innings to give the fan a bat.

"She didn't look real good," Freel said. "She was kind of in a daze. I kept saying I was sorry. I felt so bad.

"As aggressive as I play, I wish I could rewind it all."

The Dodgers would not release any information on the condition of the fan.

Freel said the women's son gave him a thumbs-up between innings.

The win - the Reds' second straight - assured them of a win in the series and guaranteed at least a split on the six-game West Coast swing.

"It's a big win for us," said Danny Graves, who earned a one-out save. "They had the best record in the National League. The confidence level is pretty high in here right now."

Van Poppel allowed five hits and one walk. He struck out one -- the last batter he faced, Paul Lo Duca, who came into the game with only two strikeouts in 118 at-bats.

John Riedling pitched a scoreless seventh after walking the first two hitters he faced. Todd Jones worked the eighth and got the first two outs of the ninth before allowing a walk and a hit.

In came Graves. He retired pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz to end it. Graves got the save because the tying run was on-deck.

"Jonesie was the first one out there," Graves said. "He told me, 'Now, that's a real set-up man.'"

Graves was most impressed by Van Poppel, who was making his second start.

"He was unbelievable," Graves said. "He throws strikes. When you go out and be aggressive, you're usually successful."

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the third. Freel hit a ball sharply down the right field line. It got struck under a security guard's chair. By the time right fielder Shawn Green retrieved the ball, Freel was halfway between second and third. He coasted in with his fourth triple of the year, good enough to lead the National League coming into Saturday.

Barry Larkin got Freel home with a groundout to shortstop.

Getting a run off LA starter Odalis Perez that early was large because the Reds have not had much success against him. Perez, a 26-year-old left-hander, was 2-0 with a 1.63 ERA in four starts against the Reds.

Freel's speed led to another run in the fifth. Juan Castro singled with one out and moved to second on Van Poppel's sacrifice.

Freel worked the count to 3-2, and then hit a little nubber just to right of the pitcher's mound. Perez fielded it, but, with Freel blazing toward first, he knew he had to hurry. His throw got past first baseman Robin Ventura, allowing Castro to score and make it 2-0.

"If he's not running like that," Reds manager Dave Miley said, "that doesn't happen."

Van Poppel twice stranded runners at second after errors put them there.

Van Poppel got into a little trouble of his own in the fourth and fifth. He gave up a one-out double to Shawn Green in the fourth. In the fifth, he allowed a two-out double to Perez and walked Jason Grabowski.

His toughest jam came in the sixth. Milton Bradley started the inning with a bunt single. He moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on Green's foul pop to right. Van Poppel got the big out by getting Adrian Beltre to pop out to short. That brought up Lo Duca, a .375 hitter and the hardest player in baseball to strike out. Van Poppel struck out him out on the pitch after Freel's fall into the stands.

"I got lucky there," Van Poppel said. "That was a big out."

Riedling walked the first two hitters in the seventh. But Perez bunted into a fielder's choice. Riedling then induced a double-play grounder.

D'Angelo Jimenez, out of the lineup because of his prolonged slump, led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single. Freel sacrificed him to second. An out later, Griffey hit a 1-2 pitch into the seats just right of the left field foul pole.

"Junior's home run was huge," Miley said.

The four-run win equaled the largest margin of victory of the year by the Reds. They beat the Pirates 5-1 on April 9.

---

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

REDS 4, DODGERS 0

CINCINNATI					LOS ANGELES
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Freel rf	3	1	2	0	Grbwsk lf	3	0	1	0
Larkin ss	4	0	0	1	Izturis ss	3	0	1	0
Grf Jr. cf	4	1	2	2	Brdley cf	4	0	1	0
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	ShGren rf	4	0	1	0
LaRue c	2	0	0	0	Beltre 3b	4	0	0	0
Hmmel 3b	3	0	0	0	L Duca c	4	0	0	0
Vlentin 1b	4	0	0	0	Vntura 1b	2	0	0	0
JCastro 2b	4	1	1	0	JHrndz 1b	0	0	0	0
Poppel p	1	0	0	0	Cora 2b	3	0	1	0
Redling p	0	0	0	0	OPerez p	3	0	1	0
DJmnz ph	1	1	1	0	Snchez p	0	0	0	0
TJones p	0	0	0	0	Saenz ph	1	0	0	0
Graves p	0	0	0	0
Totals	30	4	6	3	Totals	31	0	6	0

Cincinnati	001	010	020-4
Los Angeles	000	000	000-0

E-Dunn (2), JCastro (4), OPerez (1). DP-Cincinnati 2. LOB-Cincinnati 4, Los Angeles 9. 2B-ShGreen (8), OPerez (1). 3B-Freel (4). HR-Griffey Jr. (8). CS-LaRue (1). S-Freel, Van Poppel.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Cincinnati
Poppel W,2-1	6	5	0	0	1	1
Riedling	1	0	0	0	2	0
TJones	1 2-3	1	0	0	2	0
Graves S,16	1-3	0	0	0	0	0
Los Angeles
OPerez L,2-2	8	6	4	3	1	5
Sanchez	1	0	0	0	1	0

HBP-by Sanchez (LaRue). WP-Van Poppel.

Umpires-Home, Rick Reed; First, Ed Rapuano; Second, Ted Barrett; Third, Alfonso Marquez.

T-2:26. A-48,787 (56,000).